LA RELIGIONE ROMANA IN PROSPETTIVA

Abstract

It is necessary to question the confusion currently prevalent in the study of ancient religions between the religion of the individual, in the romantic meaning of the concept, and polytheistic and ritualistic religions as practiced in the Roman world until the emergence of Christianity. By refusing this anachronistic reference to the notion of the individual, and by including in his research the history of the notion of person, which, as historical anthropology has shown, is a later concept that emerged during the forth-fifth century and in a Christian context, the historian is much more open to the study and understanding of religions different from Christianity.